How to recruit and motivate citizen developers
As the IT workforce continues to wrestle with a significant skills gap, so-called citizen developers are stepping in to fill part of the void. The number of citizen developers working in concert with traditional coders may be much larger than many IT leaders are aware of.
It’s not that these individuals are operating in a covert or underhand way. It’s just that the tools are so accessible now. Almost all companies are likely to have citizen developers in some form – it’s just a question of visibility, governance, and how much structure there is around it.
“My sense is that there is a lot more citizen development happening than most IT leaders realize,” explains Matthew Baden, managing director at recruiting firm The Search Experience. “In many cases, these individuals are operating under the radar – especially in large organizations where the IT department may not even know how many employees are building or automating things on their own.”
Just what is a citizen developer?
A citizen developer is a non-IT worker who typically uses low-code/no-code platforms to build applications or improve existing processes. These workers can apply their deeper understanding of business needs to solve problems without formal coding knowledge. They use IT-approved tools to increase agility; to respond to business changes quickly; and reduce the burden on the IT department by creating custom solutions for their teams or departments.
While the software engineering job market has cooled over the past year and there have been fewer junior hires and leaner development teams, citizen developers have stepped up to fill the productivity gaps, says Kanani Breckenridge, CEO and ‘headhuntress’ at San Diego based recruiting firm Kismet Search.
“To be clear, as of now they’re not replacing legit engineers. But they are handling the hundreds of small automations, dashboards, and workflows that IT simply doesn’t have the bandwidth for,” Breckenridge explains.
To illustrate how plentiful citizen developers have now become, Breckenridge says the statistic she has encountered is that by the end of 2025, more than two-thirds of U.S. corporations have rolled out low-code/no-code (LCNC) or citizen-development programs, and over 70% are already actively running them. The U.S. has citizen developers now outnumbering professional developers by roughly 4 to 1 inside large companies.
The work that citizen developers commonly perform
Most citizen development activity can be found around marketing, product, and CRM-related work – basically the areas closest to revenue, where low-code and no-code tools are most available, Baden says.
“I know plenty of project or product managers who are ‘vibe coding’ – spinning up small automations or dashboards because it helps them move faster. These aren’t developers in the traditional sense, but they’re solving real problems with the tools they have at hand,” Baden explains.
Citizen developers are basically taking on the ‘long tail’ of software demand that are time killers, Breckenridge says. This includes HR automation, finance workflows, CRM dashboards, project trackers, and customer-facing microsites – the things that never make it to the top of IT’s backlog or priority list.
“Low-code and no-code tools let them build secure, enterprise-grade solutions quickly, without the cost of hiring full-time developers,” Breckenridge says.
Citizen developers can come from most any background
Citizen developers can come from pretty much anywhere inside a company. There’s no one background – it’s more about mindset, Baden explains.
Strong candidates are often the early adopters in a team: the person who’s first to try a new tool, or who’s curious about how things work behind the scenes. They might come from product, marketing, operations, or support.
“What unites them is their natural curiosity and a willingness to experiment,” Baden says. “They’re agile thinkers who see inefficiencies and want to fix them – that’s the common thread, more so than a specific career background.”
Breckenridge agrees, saying that in her experience, citizen developers come from a range of areas, such as operations, HR, marketing, finance, and sales. Wherever they came from, they’re usually proactive people who’ve lived with lag and inefficiencies and want to fix them. They’re problem-solvers first and technologists second. Most taught themselves tools such as Airtable, Power Automate, or Notion, and think more like product managers than programmers.
Who, if anyone, do citizen developers report to?
IT leaders should understand that citizen developers typically report to their usual functional managers, and not to IT. In many cases, their ‘citizen developer’ work happens without any direct oversight. Their manager might not even know they’ve built something.
That’s where governance becomes a concern, Baden says: “You’ve got data flowing through systems or APIs that IT hasn’t approved. It’s a well-intentioned innovation, but it can raise security and compliance flags.”
Because of that, Breckenridge says that citizen developers typically sit in business units but collaborate closely with IT for security and governance purposes.
“The key is for IT to enable, not police their work,” Breckenridge explains. “A Center of Excellence or dedicated mentor model works best. It provides oversight without micromanagement, ensuring their creations fit within enterprise architecture and data policies.”
How to assess the work of citizen developers
We’re at such an early formulation point that Baden says he would be surprised if many organizations are formally evaluating these employees.
“In a lot of cases, managers might not even realize the work is happening until the employee presents the finished solution,” Baden explains. Success is often defined by whether a project works – does it deliver value, save time, or solve a pain point? But from a compliance and security perspective, that’s not enough. As this trend grows, organizations will need more structure around how these projects are tracked, secured, and integrated.
The first step is simply to identify what’s happening – who’s doing it and why, Baden says. Once you’ve surfaced that activity, evaluate it the same way you would a pilot project. Is it solving a genuine business problem? Can it scale? Is it secure? These projects can serve as valuable prototypes – a proof of concept that, if it gains traction, can be properly architected by the IT team later on.
Think of citizen developers more like product managers in training, so measure adoption, user satisfaction, and business impact, Breckenridge says.
There can be cultural or workplace relationship challenges to be aware when using citizen developers, depending on how they’re being utilized and integrated.
There is often friction when IT feels like control is slipping and business users feel like they’re being second-guessed, Breckenridge explains. Leadership has to make it clear about the roles. Its role is to empower, not gate keep or feel threatened. She recommends bringing teams together, such as with hackathons, internal forums, or demo days. These can help bridge any cultural gap and turn difficulties into collaboration.
Another challenge is duplicated effort – teams might be working on the same problem without realizing it, Baden says. Or there may be a problem with alignment: a marketing-led automation might solve one issue but create a data headache for IT.
“Departments have different priorities, and without communication, you risk siloed innovation that doesn’t scale. The key is building a culture where experimentation is encouraged but still connected to central oversight,” Baden says.
The pros and cons of having citizen developers on your team
There are a number of other pros and cons of working with citizen developers in an organization, Breckenridge says. Advantages include:
- Speed and Agility: Citizen developers can build functional apps in days instead of months, helping companies move faster than traditional IT timelines ever allowed. It’s agile problem-solving powered by the people closest to the problem.
- Improving IT backlog and adding inexpensive resources: When business users handle smaller workflow automations and apps, then the engineers can focus on the complex, mission-critical work.
- Creativity and engagement with employees: These are the people who live the inefficiencies in their roles, so they often come up with the most practical, high-impact solutions based on direct experience.
“The biggest advantage is speed,” Baden says. “These people work outside the usual red tape – they can test, iterate, and deliver results quickly. They’re often closer to the business problem, so their solutions are more targeted.
Breckenridge says the top disadvantages of working with citizen developers include:
- Security and compliance gaps: Without proper governance, citizen-built apps can expose vulnerabilities or break compliance rules if IT isn’t on top of this.
- Shadow IT sprawl: Duplicated data and disconnected apps can create a headache for IT to manage and support later on. Governance frameworks and Centers of Excellence keep that from happening.
- Scalability and usability: Many citizen-built tools solve immediate pain points but aren’t designed to scale across an enterprise. IT needs to provide the scaffolding like proper integration, maintenance, and oversight to be best utilized.
The biggest downside relates to governance: lack of oversight, security risks, and the potential to waste time on projects that never scale.
“It’s innovation at the edges – exciting, but risky if it’s not brought into the fold properly,” Baden explains.
Potential career paths for citizen developers
So, what are the potential career paths for these individuals? Citizen developers will likely become tomorrow’s product managers, automation architects, and AI-workflow leads, Breckenridge says.
“Pair them with IT mentors and give them clear growth paths so they don’t hit a ceiling and feel valued. As AI and LCNC platforms evolve, these employees will be the connective tissue between business logic and technical execution. Ideally act as the translators all technology-forward enterprises need,” Breckenridge says. Some citizen developers will naturally gravitate toward engineering or product roles over time, especially if they formalize their technical skills.
“But there’s also a ceiling – without structured training or development, their progression can stall,” Baden says. “The smart organizations are the ones who identify these people early, give them mentorship or learning pathways, and help them evolve into formal technical contributors. That’s where citizen development stops being a side project and starts becoming a real talent pipeline.”
